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Blog Tour

A man is found murdered, hideously disfigured, alongside his dying dog. A woman is discovered dead, tied up and gagged in her own bed. Both have a rose placed next to them but that is not the only similarity – both victims are police officers. DC Charlie Stafford and the rest of their team know that someone is out to kill more their own and they must be stopped before one of them becomes the next victim.

It is always nice to be asked to take part in a blog tour but even more so when the book is part of a series that you have grown to love. Liar Liar is the third book to feature Charlie Stafford and is part of a series that is going from strength to strength. I have mentioned in previous reviews (Mummy’s Favourite and The Trophy Taker) how much I enjoy the working relationship between the police officers in this series and this is still the same in Liar Liar. It is also pleasing to read a police procedural series where the focus is placed on the plot rather than the personal lives of the characters.

Sarah Flint

Liar Liar is very current with references to the recent terrorist attacks in London. This helped to place the story very much in the modern day and also helped to introduce how vulnerable police officers are in the world we live in. Despite them being on heightened terrorism alert, however, the team are not prepared for the heinous acts undertaken by the killer and their mentor, ‘Ice.’ It becomes apparent quite early in the book that there is some sort of leak, the perpetrator feeding information about the officers to the murderer. With several possible candidates, though, it is not made too obvious as to who this could be so it was fun trying to guess, along with trying to work out who the killer could be.

As in previous books in the series, Charlie is still trying to do the right thing by her friend, Ben, although, at the moment, she is struggling to help him cope with his issues. Ben is still a character I enjoy reading about and I am still willing him to come good! Although there are definitely hints of a romance on the cards, it is understandable why they are both wary and I’m glad that the author hasn’t rushed into this.

From the very beginning, when we are privy to a horrendous act of domestic violence, Liar Liar draws you in and takes you on a journey through the depraved mind of a killer and the lives of those tasked with bringing them to justice. This is a must-read series.

With thanks to Aria Fiction and Net Galley for the ARC and to Melanie Price for organising the blog tour.

Jenny Aaron was once part of an elite police unit tracking Germany’s most dangerous criminals. She was the best. Until it all went wrong. A disastrous mission saw her abandon a wounded colleague and then lose her sight forever.

Now, five years later, she has learnt to navigate a darkened world. But she’s still haunted by her betrayal. Why did she run?

Then she receives a call from the unit. They need her back. A prison psychologist has been brutally murdered. And the killer will only speak to one person…

It is my pleasure to be the next stop on the blog tour for In the Dark, the latest book by Andreas Pflüger. I am incredibly grateful to Andreas for taking the time to answer my questions in such a detailed and fascinating way:

Your lead character, Jenny Aaron, is blind. What challenges did this bring when writing In the Dark?

I had to do a tremendous amount of research because the story is told mainly from the point of view of my heroine. I read for almost a year, talked to blind women who were so friendly to share a lot of time with me, talked to doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, brain researchers. In the end one of the most distinguished experts for blindness worldwide became my special adviser: Professor Bernhard Sabel from the Otto-von-Guericke-University of Magdeburg (formerly of MIT and Harvard). He reads every sentence of my Aaron novels and is my guarantee that the facts about blindness are right. His work is a great inspiration for me.

Jenny is a government assassin. How did you research this role?

My first thriller Operation Rubikon which is not published in English, takes place in the world of special branch, intelligence agencies and international terrorism and my main adviser was the former President of the BKA – the Federal Criminal Investigation Office of Germany. I worked for five years on that novel and learned so much about that business that I still benefit from the research.

You have written for the radio and theatre as well as writing novels. Which do you prefer to write and why?

In the last three years I concentrated on my novel writing. Both forms of storytelling are very different and each is fun. But there is one thing that helps to create a novel: A screenwriter is paid for a lot of things. But mainly for one talent: When somebody else wants to see a movie, he or she has to go to a cinema or turn on the TV. A screenwriter is able to watch a complete new film in his head. I am convinced that a good novel always is a kind of mental cinema. So you could say my first life as a screenwriter was a great preparation for my second one as a novelist.

Which authors do you enjoy reading that you would recommend to other readers?

Most of the time I only read non-fiction books about medicine, brain science or martial arts techniques. The novels I like most are the old fashioned ones: Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett or James M. Cain. But I am a fan of Robert Harris and Stephen King too. His novel 11/22/63 is a brilliant piece of writing.

For anyone who has not yet read any of your work, why should they read In the Dark?

It is my pleasure to be the next stop on the blog tour for the brilliant new book by Carys Jones – Last Witness. My review can be found here, but I am also lucky enough to be able to share an extract with you!

1

‘I want to go home.’

Ewan’s voice was plaintive, sorrowful, as he lifted his head off Amanda’s arm and peered up at her through tired eyes.

Home.

The word pressed itself into Amanda’s side like a thorn. Each time she breathed in she felt its barbed tip. What was home? A place? A person? For Amanda, home had been the beautiful new house she’d bought with her husband, Will.

Bending forward, she coughed to conceal the sob which trembled up her throat and burst from her lips. Will was gone. All that was left of him was the little boy at her side.

‘Home.’ Ewan smacked his hands against his seat and blinked back tears.

‘We can’t go home,’ Shane briefly turned to look back at them from the driving seat. Amanda had watched his profile throughout their long journey, noticed the unrelenting tension in his jaw as he drove down seemingly never-ending motorways. Scotland was now in the rear-view mirror. The sun had started to dip in the sky and Amanda wasn’t sure if she’d reach her mother’s house before dark.

‘Why not?’ the little boy demanded of both the adults in the car, dividing his

heated gaze between them. Shane was looking ahead once more.

‘Because we can’t,’ Amanda wished she had a more concrete explanation to offer Ewan. She wrapped her arm around his slight shoulders and drew him back towards her. He was too tired to pull away.

‘But why not?’ his eyelids were drooping.

Because your mother and father are dead. Because the man who killed them may well be hunting you too.

As Amanda had predicted, night had fallen when Shane’s car pulled into the small driveway outside her mother’s cottage. She could taste the salt in the air sweeping in off the Southern English coast as she stretched out her legs, trying to unknot them after the long drive down from Scotland. Thick, velvety shadows gathered where the vehicle’s headlights couldn’t reach.

‘Are you sure she’s going to be okay with this?’ Shane’s voice was dubious as Amanda yawned widely in the back seat and stretched out her arms.

‘She has to be.’

‘And if she isn’t?’

‘Well,’ Amanda dusted a strand of blonde hair out of her eyes, ‘you don’t have a place of your own right now. I’m sure as hell not going back to my place. And that leaves hers.’

Even at night, the little cottage managed to look welcoming. A single outside light shone beside the front door. It banished away any shadows that lingered too close to the threshold. Amanda smiled a little to herself as she looked at its glow, remembering how that light used to be left on to help guide her back home during her teenage years, when she’d spent hours down on the beach with Shane and John. But who was it on for now? Or did her mother just like to think that she was offering a guiding light to any souls that wandered along the cliffside?

It was cold out. When she opened her car door the slap of the night air against his cheeks roused Ewan from slumber. He made his hands into little balls and furiously rubbed them against his eyes. ‘Where are we?’ he mumbled the question as Shane scooped him up in his strong arms and rested Ewan against his chest. The boy promptly lowered his head and fell back asleep.

‘I envy his ability to just sleep anywhere.’ Shane smiled. It wasn’t a hearty, natural one. More the sort of smile you use in polite company. But Amanda was grateful for it. It was nice to see someone else smile, especially since she doubted she’d ever be able to again.

Pushing back all her nerves and worries, she rang the doorbell.

‘Are you even sure she’ll be up?’

Amanda pulled her phone from her pocket and peered at the screen. It was a quarter to eleven. ‘She’ll be up.’

Sure enough it took less than a minute for the locks to turn on the other side of the door.

‘Who is it?’ Her mother’s voice was tight, suspicious. Amanda could imagine her staring hard at the door, rouge lips pursed in annoyance.

‘Mum, it’s me.’

The door opened. Light flooded the porch, brilliant and bright. Amanda had to stagger back, briefly shielding her eyes.

About the Author:

Carys Jones loves nothing more than to write and create stories which ignite the reader’s imagination. Based in Shropshire, England, Carys lives with her husband, two guinea pigs and her adored canine companion Rollo.